5.72 lakh tonnes Aus rice produced in N’region

The farmer have achieved bumper production of the off-season Aus crop through producing 5,72,441 tonnes clean rice in the northern region during this season, official sources said.The achieved production is higher by 44,751 tonnes than the fixed production target of 5,27,690 tonnes Aus rice from 2,16,606 hectares of land this year in the region, sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said. The farmer had finally cultivated the crop in 2,22,811 hectares land,
exceeding the fixed farming target by 6,205 hectares, to achieve the bumper Aus rice production as an additional crop.Of the fixed target, the farmers were to produce 4,77,763 tonnes of high yielding variety Aus rice from 1,78,200 hectares of land and 49,927 tonnes local variety Aus rice from 38,406 hectares of land this year in the region. Finally, they have produced 5,07,182 tonnes high yielding variety Aus rice from 1,89,472 hectares land, 38,514 tonnes local variety Aus rice from 25,304 hectares and additional 26,745 tonnes hybrid variety Aus rice from 8,031 hectares this season.
“After completing Aus cultivation during the off-season after Boro harvests and before T-Aman transplantation, farmers have successfully
cultivated T-Aman crop on the same land,” horticulture specialist of the DAE Khondker Md. Mesbahul Islam said.As a result of comprehensive steps taken by the present government including distribution of various subsidies, incentives and conducting motivational activities, the farmers are showing more interests in Aus farming in recent years, he added. To make the Aus farming programme successful, the government had
distributed seeds and fertilisers worth Taka 8.82 crore as special incentives among 68,430 beneficiary farmers in 11 northern districts out of 16 in the region this year.Each of the 66,960 beneficiary farmers received 5 kg high yielding variety Aus seeds, 20 kg urea, 10 kg di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and 10 kg murrieta of potash (MoP) and Taka 300 as cash for irrigation purposes for Aus farming on one bigha of land. Besides, each of the other 1,470 beneficiary farmers were provided with 10 kg Nerico Aus seeds, 20 kg urea, 10 kg DAP and 10 kg MoP fertilisers, Taka 300 for irrigation and Taka 300 for weed cleaning on one bigha of land this time. Additional Director of the DAE Sikander Ali expressed satisfaction over bumper Aus production and said that increasing Aus farming has been producing additional rice in recent years to meet food security under adverse climate. -BSS, Rangpur